BY FOSTER FUNDI
Who can justify sending a first time offender to jail for 4 years because of $330. This is excessive, harsh, cruel and inhumane Punishment by every standard.
Mzomera Ngwira is a victim of compromised and politicized judiciary in Malawi. It’s a shame that judges and magistrates are opening involved in politics.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Regional Governor for the North Christopher Mzomera Ngwira was sentenced to four years imprisonment over abuse of Local Development Fund (LDF) during the time he was member of Parliament for Mzimba Hora Constituency.
Here’s the miscarriage of justice ladies and gentlemen: They did not sentence him to four years jail time with hard labor for misappropriating $330 but rather because he is a DPP supporter.
Malawi’s harsh and extreme sentencing have left us with highest incarceration rate in Africa. Too many of our prisons hold too many individuals doing too much time because of soulless people like this Senior Resident Magistrate Mathews Msiska.
When a judge hands a sentence to someone who’s about to go to jail, there are four main factors that go into the decision. There’s retribution (punishing the person for doing something wrong), rehabilitation (correcting problematic behaviour), safety (keeping threats out of the community) and deterrence (making sure both they, and others, are scared off of breaking the law in the future). None of these fit the punishment Mzomera received. This was pure politics.
I am therefore looking for a lawyer who’s not affiliated with either MCP or UTM to join Mzomera’s legal team as they appeal the judgement.
We need every reinforcement we can get to make sure he’s a free man for his family. I will foot the legal costs for this reinforcement legal team. Amwenye fleece Malawi millions of dollars every year and none of them spend a day in jail and yet you sentence a fellow Malawian to jail for four years because of $330. Shame.
